Just got confirmation that the West Seattle Polar Bear Swim is on again for Sunday (New Year’s Day 2017). From organizer Mark Ufkes:

January 1, 2017, at 9:50 am, polar-bear swimmers will line up along the beach across from Duke’s.

With a countdown, at 10 am sharp we will hold hands with our friends and run into Puget Sound.

Bring water shoes, a towel, a change of clothes and your hopes and dreams for 2017 with you. Also bring the lessons you learned in 2016. Running into the water with friends and family will help you leave behind the complexities of 2016 and start the new year clean and burden-free. We hit the water at 10 sharp.

We mention politics because in case you missed the original announcement, which almost made it onto the WSB Most-Commented-On Stories of 2017 list, longtime organizer Mark Ufkes included a statement that he planned to wear pink into the water in support of, among other things, electing women.

In the ensuing triple-digit comment thread, Mark also made the point that the swim was of course open to all, as always, whatever your politics. But at this morning’s swim, no speeches – just the traditional countdown, followed by a quick en-masse, shrieking run into the water and, for most, a quick run out. Swimmers wore a variety of outfits, from pink, to red-white-and-blue, to sports-fan gear, and more – here’s a sample:

Side note – Organizer Mark also brought corkscrews, free to anybody who wanted one – he explained that he had bid on a batch of unclaimed corkscrews confiscated by the TSA – he thought he was getting 100 but instead received 1,000. (He also bid on Swiss Army-type knives that he obtained and gave to Boy Scouts – he’s a longtime Scoutmaster and parent of Eagle Scouts.) Here’s his pre-swim photo of the corkscrews:

Other sightings at the Polar Bear Swim – offshore spectators:

And just as we got ready to publish this report – two photos from Bob Spears (the second, showing someone who really did plunge rather than run):

(Added) From Bailey – The spirit of Christmas (and more) lingered into New Year’s for this trio:

(Added) Turns out that Alki open-water swimmer Andrew Malinak was in the boat shown a few photos up. We thought we heard sea-lion barking when we arrived at the beach, and one of his photos caught two of the five sea lions he reports counting:

5:10 AM: In the past few hours, we’ve seen half an inch or so of snow here in Upper Fauntleroy, east of Lincoln Park. At least, that’s how much has stuck to cars, fence tops, and planting strips. More is falling, but it’s also melting in the street – audibly, by the storm drains – and driving down toward The Junction was no problem. It’s still snowing lightly, and the National Weather Service‘s 3 am “forecast discussion” says: “The Seattle metro will continue to see a threat of snow through the morning as the back edge of a band (currently over the San Juans and Skagit) pushes south. A trace to 1/2″ of snow is possible…with up to 1″ at the high end.” South of here, the NWS says, they’ve seen more.

5:17 AM: Buses are on snow routes around King County, including here, according to Metro’s website. West Seattle is in what Metro calls the South Seattle zone, so you can use that to sort the updates on this page.

6 AM: Sounds (and looks) from comments so far that eastern/southern West Seattle is snowiest.

(Added: Photo from Mike R. in Arbor Heights)

8:41 AM: From Metro:

Transit Alert – Rts 21, 50 & 125 in Metro's South Seattle snow area have returned to their regular routing; https://t.co/zSuRSmN8Ry.